Seoul (Korea). After Colombia stunned three favorites in a row with Venezuela, Korea and Japan, their run at the XXV IBAF 18U Baseball World Championship was stopped by Canada on Thursday morning. The Maple Leafs nearly blew a 7-0 lead en route to a 10-6 victory at Mokdong Stadium. Canada is now 3-1 in the second round after winning three games in 24 hours. Colombia dropped to 2-2.
Canada hoped to avoid another thrilling game, returning to the field about 12 hours after their 1-0 extra inning win over Team USA. Four walks and a wild pitch helped Jacob Robson to score the first run in the bottom of the first. Two frames later they plated brought out the big bats. Owen Spiwak extended their advantage with a RBI single. Mitchell Triolo followed by clearing the bases with a three-run double. After two outs Nathan Desouza hit a two-run homerun over the right field fence to make it 7-0.
This was a wake-up call for Colombia. They got back into the game in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs on hits by Alvaro Noriega, Wison Garcia, Edwin Fuentes and Gerson Jimenez. A RBI double Noriega in the fifth and a run after an error in the sixth cut the deficit even further and chased Canada’s starting pitcher Cal Quantrill (5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) from the mound with the score at 6-7. Travis Seabrooke came in and was able to stop Colombia right there, sealing the win by pitching 3 2/3 innings of perfect relief.
The Canadian offense gave him some additional wiggle room, putting three insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Desouza capped his great game with a two-run single to right. Jesse Hodges, who just has signed a minor league contract as an amateur free agent with the Chicago Cubs, followed with a RBI single to short.
Colombia’s starting pitcher Arturo Pena was replaced after just 20 pitches in the first. He threw just four strikes to the first five batters, accounting for four walks, while getting just one out. Cristian Olmos escaped the bases loaded jam with no further damage, but he and Nabil Crismatt weren’t able to keep Canada’s batters from scoring and Colombia took the loss.
